News
Telecommunications industry leaders are applauding the passage of the ACCESS Rural America Act in the U.S. Senate.
By: Brad Randall, Broadband Communities
An act that intends to provide relief to small broadband providers by easing their burden of regulatory costs has passed unanimously in the U.S. Senate.
The bill, titled the Access to Capital Creates Economic Strength and Supports (ACCESS) Rural America Act, will now head to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Meanwhile, the legislation has received high marks from NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association.
Shirley Bloomfield, the organization’s CEO, thanked Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) for supporting the bipartisan legislation.
“Federal Securities and Exchange Commission registration and reporting requirements intended for larger, publicly traded firms pose significant challenges for, and can impose substantial burdens on, smaller, locally owned companies with limited resources,” Bloomfield said.
In addition, Bloomfield’s comments, released to the media Wednesday, said the bill will allow rural providers “to focus more on their core mission of deploying and operating advanced broadband networks in rural areas.”
John Klatt, President and CEO of Lakeland Communications, also commented in a release from Sen. Baldwin’s office.
Klatt expressed support for the legislation on behalf of the company, described as a rural provider in northwest Wisconsin.
“ACCESS Rural America will enable us to get back to doing more network building, connecting fiber optic in rural settings, and supporting the business of the good people of rural Wisconsin, while spending less of our resources on burdensome SEC regulation compliance,” Klatt said. “We now call on the US House of Representatives to pass the ACCESS Rural America Act as soon as possible.”
Joining Sen. Baldwin and Sen. Ernst, the legislation was also co-sponsored by Sen. Krysten Sinema (I-AZ), Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA).
To get content like this delivered to your inbox, subscribe to the Broadband Communities newsletter.
